Brigid Curtin, 12, was fond of West Hartford's Westmoor Park. Here she is pictured with chickens at the farm. (Courtesy of Murphy-Curtin family)

Tuesday would have been Brigid Curtin’s 13th birthday.

Instead of celebrating at Sedgwick Middle School with a decorated locker and notes of joy, students remembered Brigid by wearing blue and yellow shirts, blue soccer paint under their eyes or blue hearts drawn on their hands, and by wearing mismatched sneakers or socks. Hugs, high-fives and kind acts circulated about the school. And around town, Brigid is also remembered with displays of white ribbons on front yards and pinned to winter coats.

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“She was always smiling, always happy and when I say joyful, I mean that she found joy in everything and she found joy in someone else’s joy,” Brigid’s sixth-grade teacher, Tom Lucey, said. “She was unbelievable that one, she really was terrific, just joyful. … Like, dictionary – joyful, picture of Brigie.”

On Dec. 17, police said Brigid was killed after her twin brother stabbed her at their home on Stoner Drive. Her mother, Janemarie Murphy, was severely wounded in the attack, but is expected to survive. Police said they responded to a call at 187 Stoner Dr. in which a woman said she “and her daughter had been stabbed by her son.” A motive for the attack remains unknown. The boy, who police have not identified, faces one count of murder and one count of first-degree assault.

Remembered as a happy-go-lucky, thoughtful, compassionate and always smiling 12-year-old, Brigid, or Brigie, was described this week as someone who effortlessly navigated her young life, showcasing kindness as though it was second nature to her.

On Saturday, a funeral is scheduled at 2 p.m. at the family’s church, St. Patrick-St. Anthony Church in Hartford. There will not be calling hours and burial will be private. The family asks that in lieu of flowers, that a donation be made to “The Westmoor Park Fund” in Brigid’s name.

Matt Kalinowski, a longtime counselor, instructor and naturalist at Westmoor Park, described Brigid as a girl who wasn’t afraid to get messy, motivating her fellow campers to get the dirty work – like cleaning farm stalls – done early so they could have fun later. She wanted to be a counselor-in-training when she was old enough.

“She was just one of those people that never let anything get to her,” Kalinowski said. “If anything happened she would brush it off and remove herself from the situation. ... We kinda called her like the mom of the group.”

The family, through the Feast on the Farm annual fundraiser dinner, had auctioned and won the naming rights for four animals – two sheep named Kelly and Mairsy-Doats, and two goats, named after the twins.

A 10-year-old Brigid Curtin goes eye to eye with a "Blue Tongue Skink" anticipating a kiss on the nose while Brian Kleinman, owner of Riverside Reptiles, holds onto the reptile during an afterschool YWCA Kidslink program for Duffy Elementary School kids. Kleinman brings his educational program featuring snakes, spiders, scorpions and assorted reptiles to local schools and parties. (John Woike / The Hartford Courant)

Brigid’s love for Westmoor Park was contagious, and she convinced her best friend to go to summer camp there, too, according to her best friend’s mother, Jennifer Bertagna.

The two met in kindergarten at Duffy Elementary School, Bertagna said, but didn’t share classes again until they were in middle school at Sedgwick. Their friendship was maintained through Brownies and playing soccer or basketball together.

There were sleepovers, birthday parties, concerts, Target runs, and pretzels and ice cream from West Hartford Center. They had seen Pentatonix together and attended the P&G gymnastics championship in Hartford. Though neither showed interest in golf, the two attended the Travelers golf tournament. Instead of watching as the professional golfers walked the greens, the two could be found feeding chips to turtles.

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One photo of the girls shows them in the backseat of Bertagna’s convertible – the top down, a clear and bright blue sky, the wind blowing their hair around, sunglasses on and a smile from ear to ear.

When they went into middle school together, the two learned they would have their morning class together – called “advisory,” and several other classes as well.

“They were so excited to go to middle school but more excited, I think because they had each other and so they knew that whatever they did they knew they were going to do it together as they entered middle school,” Bertagna said.

Going into seventh grade, there were tears as the two girls learned they wouldn’t be in the same morning class together. They still were inseparable, singing in the competitive Top of the Sixes together.

“She was a kid that smiled about everything, I never saw her angry about anything or anyone. Never got upset, never argued with her classmates,” Bertagna said. “There’s that girl-angst that floats around at that age and she was never part of that. … If things didn’t go well, or someone wasn’t nice, there was always Brigid. ‘Brigid’s my best friend.’ So what that looks like in the future, I don’t know.”

The two always found ways to extend their time together, Bertagna joked, saying that they would spend 12 hours together and still looked to prolong the time they were together. There are matching T-shirts, and trinkets that have gone back and forth between the Bertagna and Murphy-Curtin household. The most recent exchanges between the two households has been Tupperware, as the two girls made slime together. And Brigid, with her fondness for animals, loved the Bertagna’s black dog Sherman, even though she was allergic to him.

“... My daughter now knows what it’s like to really have a best friend ... she can say because I know what a good friend is, because I had a really good friend.”

Jennifer Bertagna

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Brigid didn’t want to play lacrosse or flag football, but she’d attend her friend’s game to support her. And Bertagna’s daughter would attend Brigid’s soccer games, too, she said.

On the soccer field, Brigid’s determination, intelligence and leadership, shown through, according to Tim Gibson, her soccer coach for the West Hartford’s Girls Travel Soccer U-12 and U-13.

And she was a silent leader. Gibson, through tears, said he learned after Brigid’s death that she took one of her teammates under her wing when her teammate was frustrated with her performance, and helped the girl improve.

“That was who she was. She didn’t look for praise she just did what she did,” Gibson said.

On Saturday, the day of Brigid’s funeral, her travel soccer team will play its first indoor match without her at Sports World in East Windsor.

“Brigid was quiet overall but she got along with everyone well,” Gibson said. “She was never unhappy – she was always happy, had this smile on her face, always just kind of enjoying herself.”

Flowers left at the entrance to Stoner Drive in West Hartford for Brigid Curtin, the 12-year-old girl fatally stabbed by her twin brother. Brigid's mother, Janemarie Murphy was seriously injured in the attack, but is expected to survive. (Patrick Raycraft / Hartford Courant)

At their next home game, Gibson said he hopes the team’s uniforms will bear a reminder of Brigid, with her number – 40 – imprinted somewhere on all the girls’ jerseys. There are other memorials being discussed – retiring her number, dedicating a tournament in her name, and blue bracelets.

“You don’t know what to do. You get the kids together, you don’t know what to do,” Gibson said.

Her daughter purchased a corkboard and is hoping to get friends together Sunday and assemble and decorate it in Brigid’s honor. One potential photo shows the two girls in matching pajamas with big chubby cheeks.

Bertagna said she is worried about how her daughter will fare through summer camp this year, and the long-term effects Brigid’s death will have on her.

“I said to her… ‘Sometimes people go through life and they don’t find a best friend’ – and these kids were 10, they were 9, and now as I say it’s going to haunt me because she had this perfect, my daughter had this perfect thing with Brigid and no one else is going to meet up,” Bertagna said. “Conversely, glass half full, right? My daughter now knows what it’s like to really have a best friend ... she can say because I know what a good friend is, because I had a really good friend.”